Explosion at small Cairo telephone exchange kills woman

Two bombs exploded at a small telephone exchange on Cairo’s outskirts on Saturday, killing an 18-year-old woman, security sources said, days after a string of small bomb explosions hit the Egyptian capital’s metro network.

The two bombs had been stored the exchange building which was still under construction, security sources and a judicial source said, adding they assumed the devices had been intended for use elsewhere.

The unfinished concrete building partially collapsed in the blast, which killed the daughter of a construction site guard and injured his wife. The family lived in an annex to the building in 6th of October City, an eastern satellite district of Cairo.

State television reported that two people were killed in the blast but security officials were not immediately able to confirm the higher toll.

An official at the site told reporters telephone services would return within two days to around 800 people whose lines were affected.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement on Facebook that security forces and bomb experts were inspecting the site.

On Wednesday, eight people were hurt in northern Cairo when homemade explosive devices blew up at four metro stations and a courthouse in the first attacks in Cairo since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president earlier this month.